Thursday, November 26, 2009

Made me recall Blackfive's recent post on Obama Salutes, and this link to the NYT. Reagan started the practice.....

Presidents have long been saluted, but they began returning salutes relatively recently. Ronald Reagan was thought to be the first, in 1981. He had sought advice on the matter from Gen. Robert Barrow, commandant of the Marine Corps. According to John Kline, then Mr. Reagan’s military aide and today a member of Congress from Minnesota, General Barrow told the president that as commander in chief he could salute anybody he wished. And so it began.

Mr. Reagan’s successors continued the practice, and I continued to be conflicted — believing that when it comes to salutes (and one or two other matters), presidents deserved to be cut some slack, but also feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing.

My ambivalence came to an end last week, when I saw a videotape of the president’s midnight trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where he had participated, very early that morning, in the “dignified transfer” of 15 Army soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Administration agents killed that week in Afghanistan. Mr. Obama stood ramrod straight and saluted as six soldiers carried the coffin bearing the body of Sgt. Dale Griffin of Indiana off a C-17 transport aircraft and into a waiting van. His salute, it struck me, was impeccable in every way.

I'm guessing after Obama announces his new Af-Pak strategy next week, I'll be Obama's defender here, and the anti-Obama emails in need of research we'll be flying the other way.

A senior policy fellow for Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) has pleaded guilty to defrauding the government and private lenders of nearly $822,000 by using aliases to obtain student loans and more than 90 credit cards.

Ernest B. Moore, who went by Bernard Moore and Bernard Glenn-Moore on Capitol Hill, had a penchant for putting together events with marquee names — and a special legislative interest in sentencing issues and measures like the “Second Chance Act,” which is designed to help nonviolent offenders reabsorb into society.

“Who knew that he was writing that bill for himself?” quipped a former congressional aide who knows Moore.

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am enjoying every day. On the other hand, I was born Czechoslovak and educated Czechoslovak. To people like myself, the Czech Republic was an entirely different concept. I did not like being defined by my language. I think that I am much more complicated. I want to be much more complicated. I believe that if you are looking for the most tragic mistake in European history it is acceptance of the concept of language-based nationalism.

Just yesterday I was giving a lecture in Vienna and said a hundred years ago Vienna was my capital. We only had one political system, one parliament, one currency, one transportation system. After two world wars and the expulsion of millions, are we any wiser?

As we get closer to 2014 and the centennial of the start of WW1 expect more on what was lost with multicultural i.e. multilignual Empires.

Robert Creamer, the husband of my congresscritter, Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), attended tonight's White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Schakowsky was of course also there, but she is not a convicted felon. Hubby is.

Ultimately, there has to be a negotiated end to the war. The issue is how to go about it. Do you talk to the enemy from a position of weakness, as Pakistan did during the Musharraf era and learned to its sorrow that this approach only served to strengthen the rebels? Or do you talk from a position of strength? To think that Hamid Karzai could help in this regard is to be naive.

Going by what Richard Holbrooke said on Monday, Washington has been in touch with Islamabad on the new AfPak policy yet to be unveiled. Pakistan has vital stakes in the outcome of the war.

All one hopes is that a phoney peace will not be achieved for the sake of a hurried withdrawal to placate an increasingly sceptical public in the West.

The Obama administration and those involved in back-channel probes must realise how dangerous it would be to quit Afghanistan in a manner that leaves the Taliban in a dominant position.

My emphasis on the final two paragraphs. I hoe this is not the route we're headed towards.

A perception of this wavering has also influenced the Pakistani military. An armed forces spokesperson claimed recently that the army had reached the headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan after a month-long campaign, and taken control of all key positions. The next step, under pressure from the US, was to have been to move into neighboring North Waziristan, the purported headquarters of al-Qaeda and the largest Taliban-led group, the Haqqani network.

However, the military, given the signals coming out of Britain, Italy, France and Canada, and the dithering of US President Barack Obama over sending more troops to Afghanistan, is not prepared at this point to extend its operations.

Monday, November 23, 2009

A Proft Press Release. This is why I like they guy. He's not afraid to throw a few rocks and team up with Obama's Spiritual Advisor on an issue where African Americans have long been stiffed by the Democrat / Teacher's Union strangle hold on schools.

You cannot be on the dole of the teachers’ unions and be a credible, effective agent for system change of K-12 in Illinois.

It is on this basis that I have called for Illinois Republicans to stop taking campaign cash from the teachers’ unions.

Two of my opponents, State Sens. Kirk Dillard and Bill Brady, have taken tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions from the teachers’ unions and show no willingness to stop. Perhaps that explains why neither has introduced any meaningful K-12 legislation in their 15 years in the Illinois General Assembly.

Another opponent, Andy McKenna, the counterfeit “outsider”, is backed by Springfield insiders like House GOP Leader Tom Cross who has operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Illinois Education Association during his tenure. Perhaps this explains why McKenna offers little more than empty bromides like “we need to do whatever it takes” to improve K-12 without ever defining what the “whatever” looks like.

Contrast this with the bold step forward State Senator James Meeks, a Chicago Democrat, has taken to introduce school choice legislation for families whose children are relegated to failing schools in Chicago.

For breaking from the ranks of those who protect the status quo at the expense of children deprived of the opportunity to earn a quality education, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) vowed not to give Meeks any more campaign cash.

Sen. Meeks’ response? He wrote a check back to the CTU for the $4,000 they had contributed to date.

The message from Sen. Meeks to CTU is clear: I don’t want your blood money.

If only the ILGOP was as stout of heart.

If only the ILGOP was willing to stop taking the money and start taking the fight to the teachers’ unions who preside like Soviet apparatchiks over failing K-12 systems in Chicago, Rockford, Peoria, Decatur, Springfield, East St. Louis and throughout Illinois where children from low-income families are discriminated against based on their address and household income in terms of the educational opportunities they can access.

I am the one candidate for Governor willing and able to fill this leadership vacuum for the Illinois Republican Party.

I am the one candidate for Governor who has advanced a statewide school choice plan that expands educational opportunities by changing how the money flows and who gets to make spending decisions as it pertains to the education of our young people. Under my plan, we invest in families and let them choose the best course for their children. Under my plan, we stop financing command control bureaucracies and moribund teachers’ unions.

Last week, I had a productive meeting with Sen. Meeks on this very topic. We have slightly different roadmaps when it comes to school choice but share a common destination: a child-centered K-12 system that focuses on educational outputs.

As Governor, with the leadership of legislators like Sen. Meeks, we can build the necessary coalition across party lines to advance a school choice policy that provides every child in Illinois with a legitimate opportunity to be a successful, independent adult able to effectively compete in our global, digital economy.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Abdul Rahim Wardak, Afghanistan's Defense Minister announced the Afghan Army would be expanded to more than 240,000 soldiers. Wardak described President Obama's process to decide on a US increase in troops as "long awaited and over-elaborated," which prompted laughter from the senior US generals in attendance, including General Stanley McChrystal.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Re: mammograms. An independent body, after review and analysis of eight clinical trials, comes out with EVIDENCE that mammogram screening in under-40-year-olds has little or no value. What happens? The radiologists are up in arms and the Obama administration, in the person of DHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, tells patients to just keep doing what you did last year. And they want to cut costs by a billion dollars over the next decade to pay for national health insurance? If anyone really believes this country will ever control the costs of health care, they are living in a dream land!”

Interesting, too, that nobody’s paying much attention to the study that showed that electronic medical records haven’t improved outcomes or cost so far, even as the government is spending lots of money on those, too. At least EHRs have potential. In an economy where jobs are dying out, politicians don’t have the guts to make serious change since the people unhappy with health care don’t have the clout of those who like it just fine. I cited statistics here years ago saying that health care was making a staggering economy look robust because of rising costs, profits, and high employment, all unsustainable in a global economy.

I suppose the question then is how confident anyone can be the government as opposed to markets can make Health Care a sustainable sector in the economy.

Considering the Gov's placing its bets on tick-box medicine, voodoo economics on preventive med, and EHR; I'm not very confident. I think it has to do with politicians guts and lack there of. Sarah Palin maybe? She has guts.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

I wondered when he was going to do it. Here's his letter over at Illinois Review in response to Carol Marin.

The most effective response may be over at Kass though,

All this talk of reform is exciting, except for one thing. Proft has a problem. It's the size of Cicero. That doesn't necessarily disqualify him. But when a candidate is linked to Cicero, that candidate finds himself on the defensive.

For years Proft's public relations firm has reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from governments in and around Cicero, not exactly the most reformish hamlet in the state.

My colleague at the Sun-Times, Carol Marin, has been merciless in dissecting Proft. She's made Cicero a special study for years. If Proft thought that one day he'd run for governor, he should have stayed out of the town that Al Capone built.

"I'm not here to try and convince you that Cicero is Mayberry," Proft said. "People can play that guilt-by-association game. I had a responsibility to a client, to represent their interests, just like an attorney would, just like any professional would. And that's what I did."

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: "If you're gonna prosecute anybody in civilian court, our law is clear that the moment custodial interrogation occurs, the defendant, the criminal defendant, is entitled to a lawyer and to be informed of their right to remain silent. The big problem I have is you're criminalizing the war, that if we caught bin Laden tomorrow, we have mixed theories and couldn't turn him over to the CIA, the FBI, military intelligence for an interrogation on the battlefield, because now you're saying he's subject to criminal court in the United States and you're confusing the people fighting this war."

I asked for his assessment of the threat to Illinois by placing Gitmo detainees at Thomson. He said folks should just ask for the same information on the Gitmo detainees as is available to him and the other members of the House Intelligence Committee. Everyone can make their own threat assessments. Hoekstra thinks when the average American knows what he and the committee knows, we'll all want to keep these guys in Cuba.

So ok Congressman Bill Foster, how about telling all of us in Illinois's 14th district the full bio's on these fellows the administration proposes to haul up to Illinois?

Let us all make our own assessments on how much of a target we're making Illinois.

Re: Fort Hood: Hoekstra was one of the first to call this a terrorist act by a self-radicalized American. He says we've only seen the tip of the iceberg, we will see much more coming out on where the whole process broke down to allow Hasan to function much less be deployed to A-stan. How did Hasan get good performance reviews? (Hoeksta has seen?) H believes there is serious evidence to consider as a terrorist attack.

Re: KSM trial. Attack American civilians and you get a civil trial. All stems from O's ill fated Jan 22, 2009 decision to close Gitmo. Jack Reed's comment on Fox Sunday in reply to what do we do if KSM acquitted, and Reed said we'd still hold them, was an embarrassment. If we missed the deadline on Gitmo closing, we may very well miss the deadline on the trial and these guys may well go free.

Hoeksta mentions the John Adams project and says start researching them, and ask which side their on?

What's update on Patriot Act? It's getting hung up on definition of lone wolf. Administration is in free fall on the act with three key provisions getting set to expire.

Doesn't the trial put our whole Intel Apparatus on trial? H: amen.

We can fully expect AQ will use a trial to expose US Intel Methods and they will use the John Adam's project as an ally.

Re: Thomson and a threat assessment. Ask for the same information House Intel has and let everyone make their own threat assessment. Average American gets that and will say whow... now we know we have Gitmo in Cuba.

Foster's one tight lipped Rep, that's for sure. The latest from the Illinois GOP.

When Will Bill Foster End His Silence on Great Lakes Gitmo?

Foster voted against bringing terrorists to U.S. soil last month;

Bean opposes transfer as polling shows 57% oppose in Illinois

CHICAGO – Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady today called on Congressman Bill Foster to end his silence on Governor Quinn and Senator Durbin’s plan to build a new Gitmo facility in Thomson, Illinois to house up to 215 Al Qaeda terrorists.

On October 15, 2009, Foster was one of only 25 Democrats in Congress who voted to keep Gitmo open and strip language from the Homeland Security Appropriations bill allowing terrorists to come to the United States for civilian prosecution (Roll Call 783). But when asked his view on the Quinn-Durbin plan to bring Al Qaeda terrorists to Illinois, Foster told the Daily Heraldhe was “still studying the issue.”

“Bill Foster was not sent to Congress to sit on the sidelines. I hope Bill Foster will have the courage to do what’s right and oppose bringing Al Qaeda terrorists to Illinois,” Brady said

According to a survey of 1,781 likely Illinois voters conducted Monday night, less than one-third of Illinois voters support a plan to move terrorists from Gitmo to Thomson, Illinois while 57 percent call it a “bad idea.” Sixty percent of women and 58 percent of independents oppose the plan. Even Democrats narrowly oppose the plan, 44.5 percent to 43 percent.

Federal stimulus dollars were used to help laid off congressional districts in Illinois, according to Recovery.gov. In fact, nearly $500,000 was directed towards the 20th District, which lost its job following the 2000 census. That’s not all, $2.4 million was sent to the district’s retired compatriots–the 21st and 22nd–which were done away with after the 1990 census.

All told, $6.6 million was distributed to six districts, which do not exist.

Neo's comment over at Long War Journal about a party in Pakistan like minded westerners do ignore. Librealism's huge inexplicable failure to defend Liberal Islam.

It should be said that the Awami Party is not anti-Taliban, per se, but against the violence of both the Taliban and their government opponents. There movement is very much in the passive resistance activist mold, although they do not outright proscribe strict pacifism. The do tend to mirror western passive resistance movements in many ways. For much of the conflict they tended to be sympathetic to the plight of Pashtoons who joined the Taliban and blamed the Pakistani government and western powers as the ultimate source of conflict.

The Awami Party did rather well in regional elections only two years ago. At the time the Taliban intimidated them quite a bit, but found their votes temporarily useful for for drawing off PPP votes, and for the Awami stand against “America’s war” in Pakistan. Since then, the Taliban has declared open season on them and we don’t hear much from the Awami Party folks other than their death notices.

One would think the plight of the Awami Party would be an example to like minded westerners, but they are virtually invisible in the western press. I would tend to think of them as the canary in the coal mine for any prospects of pacifying the Taliban.

The key to victory was that Pelosi and Emanuel understood that their relatively new House majority is built on a layer of conservative-leaning districts won under perfect conditions in 2006 and 2008. And the two actively discourage members from some of those districts from voting in ways that would be construed as out of tune with their constituents. When the House passed Democrats' cap-and-trade energy legislation in June, for example, 44 Democrats joined 168 Republicans in voting no. Twenty-nine of those Democrats were from districts that President Obama failed to carry in 2008. Likewise, when the House approved Democrats' health care legislation, 39 Democrats, including 32 from districts that Obama lost, joined all but one Republican in voting no.

So what's so smart about building a bipartisan coalition against Obama and Pelosi care?

Late last month, two arrests in Chicago seemed to confirm a pattern of American citizens wishing to engage in acts of terror abroad but failing. But new reports from India indicate that at least one of the two arrested may have been involved in planning the coordinated attacks in Mumbai last year. Those attacks killed 173 people and have been described as India’s 9/11.

If these reports pan out, then a Chicago-area man who legally changed his name from Daood Gilani to David Headley — and who had previously been indicted for planning a foiled terror attack against Denmark’s Jylland Posten newspaper as “revenge” for printing cartoons of the prophet Mohammad — conducted surveillance of targets in Mumbai. He helped facilitate the massacre in which innocent civilians were methodically gunned down at the real-time urging of their Lashkar-e-Taiba controllers from Pakistan.

There are reports that one or both of the two unnamed Pakistani conspirators who worked with Rana and Headley are Pakistani military officers. My sources said that Rana's brothers are not the unnamed suspects.

Headley is suspected of scouting Mumbai for the Lashkar-e-Taiba prior to the deadly 62-hour terror assault on the city that left more than 170 dead. Headley spent 10 days at the Taj Hotel, which was one of the primary targets of the Lashkar-e-Taiba operation in Mumbai.

CHICAGO – Less than one-third of Illinois voters support a plan to move terrorists from Gitmo to Thomson, Illinois while 57 percent call it a “bad idea,” according to a survey released today by We Ask America, a division of Xpress Professional Services, Inc. of Springfield, Illinois.

According to the overnight survey of 1,791 likely Illinois voters, 60 percent of women and 58 percent of independents oppose the plan. Even Democrats narrowly oppose the plan, 44.5 percent to 43 percent.

It has been reported that a prison in northwestern Illinois is being considered to house individuals that have been incarcerated at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay. The individuals in question are being held due to suspicion that they have connections to terrorist activities. Do you think that housing these prisoners in an Illinois prison is a GOOD IDEA or a BAD IDEA?

Overall: Independents Democrats

Good idea: 32.33% Good idea: 33.78% Good idea: 42.62%

Bad idea: 56.95% Bad idea: 57.90% Bad idea: 44.46%

Unsure: 10.72% Unsure: 8.32% Unsure: 12.92%

“Democrat mismanagement and corruption is no excuse to put our homeland security at risk,” IL Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said. “Governor Quinn and Senator Durbin should listen to the people of Illinois and oppose this risky scheme.”

Visitors Monday to the spot where Scott died didn't see any police or security cameras that might have recorded Scott's last living seconds. With all the high-tech in Chicago, the spot where Scott died is seemingly off the grid.

It is not a place for public men like Scott. Rather, it is a place for homeless junkies and rats. It is a place to hide.

It's certainly not a place for Daley's 1983 deputy campaign manager and, until Monday, the mayor's president of the Chicago Board of Education.

The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled Scott's death a suicide. But police aren't so sure.

"We know what the ME ruled," said Police Superintendent Jody Weis. "But there are a lot of questions out there."

Joe and John over at Animal Farm note what goes around comes around I guess. Maybe an adjoining site for Iraqi guards to practice with AK47s can be found too? Savanna seems to attract that kind of interest.

So there's irony No. 1. The Department of Defense was ready to hand over land for a state prison in the 1990s that could now end up being sold to the federal government so the Department of Defense could house detainees.

Perhaps you desire a little more irony?

Thomson was finished in 2001 but never staffed because of state budget problems. After hitting up taxpayers to build the prison, the state couldn't find the money to pay for the guards and other staff and so this modern prison sits virtually unused.

During Thomson's construction, the economy had been humming along. But the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks crashed the economy and subsequent credit crunches created a recession from which Illinois has yet to recover.

The irony is that if it had not been for those attacks, Thomson rather likely would have been opened and staffed by then-Gov. George Ryan and never available to house terrorist detainees.

According to the Chicago Tribune, your Administration may transfer up to 200 Al Qaeda terrorists from their detention facility in Guantanamo Bay to a prison in Thomson, Illinois – 150 miles from Chicago.

If your Administration brings Al Qaeda terrorists to Illinois, our state and the Chicago Metropolitan Area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization.

Furthermore, since Thomson is located in the Northern District of Illinois, any civilian prosecution of Al Qaeda terrorists would occur in Rockford or downtown Chicago.

As home to America’s tallest building and leading defense suppliers, we should not invite Al Qaeda to make Illinois its number one target.

The United States spent more than $50 million to build the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to keep terrorists away from U.S. soil. Al Qaeda terrorists should stay where they cannot endanger American citizens.

As citizens of the State of Illinois, we urge you to put the safety and security of Illinois families first and stop any plan to transfer Al Qaeda terrorists to our state.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Via Long War Journal. Pakistan's Northwest Frontier's taken the brunt of Jihadi terror lately,

A suicide bomber killed four Pakistanis while targeting a police station in the latest strike in Peshawar. The attack took place in a crowded area of Badhaber, a suburb of Peshawar. The blast leveled a mosque, damaged a boys' school, and collapsed a wall of the police station.

U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., issued a statement that balanced the need for economic development in the area with safety concerns.

“As the federal government and the state of Illinois considers expanding the role of Thomson Correctional Facility, they must first and foremost guarantee the safety and security of those who live in the surrounding area,” he said. “The prospects of thousands of additional good-paying jobs and much-needed revenue for our state are factors we should consider, but safety must be the primary consideration.”

He said he anticipated being briefed early this week and hearing from the public

A POW Camp for Terrorists as TV broadcasts a show-trial --and what else can we call Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial but a show-trial with Obama and Holder telling us he'll be found guilty-- is exactly what Illinois doesn't need.

A Jihadi recruiting event with a pre-convicted KSM on a court room soapbox and the rest of his crew sitting in the cornfields down the road from me.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

I wondered why my 2005 Thomson post was getting so many hits. The guys took my advice, but geez no one doubts the ability of Illinois to keep 'em locked up. It's the guys coming to Thomson to make the Jihadi Polical points that should have everyone rightfully concerned. Considering the recent arrests in Kinsman, IL the Jihadi's are certainly about. They're serious and it's foolish not to be wary.

Better Gitmo than Illinois. Any fool knows and I fear Quinn and Durbin will look tragic fools because of this lobbying.

THE NEW CHICAGO CONSPIRACY.; Copperheads and Rebels in Counsel. Infamous Plot to Burn the City and Liberate the Rebel Prisoners. HOW THEIR PLANS WERE FRUSTRATED Arrest of Many of the Leading Conspirators.A Brother of Gen. Marmaduke and John Morgan's Adjutant General in Custody.Large Quantities of Concealed Arms and Ammunition Discovered. MEASURES TAKEN TO PRESERVE THE PEACE. SECOND DISPATCH. Further Details. LATEST.

Something less dramatic w/o Copperhead Democrats but more lethal perhaps. It's not without precedent.

My Dad in Manila in 1945. He was a pretty mild guy and his whole family Midwestern isolationists, pretty much opposed to American involvement in WW2.

But once in he and my uncle and all the rest did their duty. My Dad met the Japanese in New Guina and then the Philippines. He would have been aghast at Obama's bow.

I expect many Chinese who remember and have been taught about The Rape of Nanking (caution graphic images) are aghast today, unlike my President or many Japanese who have memory-holed that atrocity.

There are things worse than war. The Chinese remember Japenese occupation and have taught their childred. Today's Japan has buried their history. Obama's bow will reverberate and anger. Just as it would have angered my Dad.

Footnote:Powerline with the fumbling response to the question on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You'd almost think he didn't expect it.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The mobilization of people to this effort has been amazing. Within a couple of days, over 10,000 people signed an online petition calling to stop the execution. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and several Iranian human rights organizations issued statements calling to halt the execution. However, from the moment the date of Ehsan’s execution was set, only the head of the Judiciary, Sadeq Ardeshir Larijani, could stop the execution. Larijani let this young man die despite being innocent.

Ehsan was executed for his political activities for the Kurdish minority in Iran. Despite being tortured, Ehsan refused to admit to participating in an armed struggle against the Iranian regime. His first sentence, exile for ten years, shows that the regime didn’t see him as serious threat. Only during the appeal process was he declared as an “enemy of God” and sentenced to execution. It is not only morally wrong to execute someone for wanting to be free, but it is also illegal, since international law makes it clear that all humans have the right to self determination.

This execution is just another tool in the Iranian regime’s mechanism of repression against the Kurdish minority. The Kurds in Iran are victims of arbitrary arrests, denial of education, denial of cultural expression, executions, raids, and denial of many other human rights.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ardolino via Threat Matrix. Sistani's role is interesting. If Iran's regime falls and it's Sistani's subtle influence found there too, History is going to judge what we did in Iraq very differently than many would think now.

It was vital to permit open candidate lists in order to maintain Iraq's popular trend towards nationalism, elevate truly qualified leaders, and break sectarian party strangleholds on government ministries. Notably, open list elections were supported by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and opposed by some of the major Kurdish and Shia Arab parties, the latter of which are often portrayed in the media as running Iraq at Iran's behest.

The open source news reports are typically light on detail, but this looks to be a milestone essential to Iraq's potential stability and political progress.

* The title is of course a light poke at Thomas Ricks' "Iraq, the Unraveling" series of blog posts, which I believe focus on negative aspects of Iraq without due consideration of what is working, when it works. Today it looks as if something important worked.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Never heard of IF before but she and I agree pretty much on Dan Proft. Here's what she says,

That brings me to Dan Proft. Proft definitely won the crowd. He was funny, quick on his feet, genuine, unrehearsed (or so good at it, it seemed unrehearsed) and brought me to my feet several times. I especially liked his comparison between IL politicians and the school bully demanding your lunch money at every turn. Exactly. If I could choose a candidate to run against Quinn, it would be Proft, but again...can he win? He's a little sarcastic. How will that play in the media? He'll make great soundbites. But they'll try to tear him apart. However, he's so quick with a comeback, they may not be able to and I like that. He's tough enough. That's what you have to be to make it in this town. I also thought he was believable. He echoed a lot of my own thoughts...Illinois isn't broken...it's FIXED! It's a racket! Then I went to his website and there's a section on there called "If the wig fits, wear it." LMAO...they're putting Blago's hair on people. Go look...it's hilarious. The best thing he said all night though was that we should pay state legislators in state bonds. Yes!

So congratulations Dan Proft. You not only won the debate but you may have won my vote. I say may because we have the others to consider. Jim Ryan is running, as is Andy McKenna. Neither showed up and so neither will be getting my vote, HOWEVER, if we don't narrow down this field we're going to end up with a Schillerstrom or a Ryan getting the nom because our votes are split between too many candidates. We have got to get together on this one and decide who we're going to support as a united group. If we allow our votes to go to all of them willy-nilly, it will just open the door for a "moderate" and we'll be in the same old situation.

The Illiois's GOPs ongoing Conservative v Moderate split and all the humbug about RHINOs and what-not leaves me cold. Proft's just got it right about Illinois being fixed and says it in plain straight-forward language that's gotta appeal to anyone who's felt had in this state. That's a lot of us.

“If there’s anything that Tuesday’s elections in New Jersey and Virginia showed us, it’s that the public is sick and tired of the Democrats’ reckless policies, like the government-run option, that create more government and not more jobs. By being the key votes for delivering government-run option to Nancy Pelosi, Melissa Bean, Bill Foster and Debbie Halvorson can kiss their hopes of re-election good-bye.” – Tom Erickson, NRCC spokesman, said in a statement late last night.

The House just passed their $1.2 trillion government takeover of healthcare by a slim margin of 220-215. Delivering the key votes for Nancy Pelosi’s government-run takeover of healthcare were Illinois’ Melissa Bean, Bill Foster and Debbie Halvorson. These Illini delivered the 218th, 219th and 220th votes to Nancy Pelosi; carrying the bill over the finish line just in the nick of time.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Army's got some explaining to do about how a Psychiatrist like this can be out there "counseling" the troops. Via Brenda at RBO:

The Sunday Telegraph has reported the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas earlier this week was linked with radical imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was a “spiritual adviser” to three of the hijackers who attacked America on September 11, 2001.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan attended al-Awlaki’s Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11 terrorists.

Anwar al-Awlaki is an American-born Yemeni scholar who was banned from addressing a meeting in London by video link in August because he is accused of supporting attacks on British troops and backing terrorist organizations.

A fellow Muslim officer at the Fort Hood base in Texas, the scene of Thursday’s horrific shooting spree told the Telegraph that Hasan’s eyes used to light up when he mentioned his deep respect for al-Awlaki’s teachings.

Relatives said that the death of Hasan’s parents, in 1998 and 2001, turned him more devout.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Well, I did my part! I called Bill Foster’s Washington office and urged a no vote. (Foster took over Denny Hastert’s seat.) I also e-mailed. It took a while to get through, and I asked the person if she’s getting lots of calls. She was indeed. I asked her what the sentiment was, and she diplomatically said the office was receiving all different kinds of views! I voted for Foster twice (hey, I’m a liberal! But I absolutely love this web site) — and I told the woman that. I also said the bill was a monstrosity that should be tossed out.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Another reason why I'm not game on Government run Health Care. The special interests lobby the expert panels about just what's Medical, and we'll end up with care-protocols as complex as the Chicago City Zoning Ordinances.

As the health care battle moved forward last week, Phil Davis, a senior Christian Science church official, hurriedly delivered bundles of letters to Senate offices promoting a little-noticed proposal in the legislation requiring insurers to consider covering the church's prayer treatments just as they do other medical expenses.

Critics say the proposal would essentially put Christian Science prayer treatments on the same footing as science-based medical care by prohibiting discrimination against "religious and spiritual health care."

While advancing below the radar as debate focuses on larger issues such as the "public option," the Christian Scientists' proviso has begun to stir controversy because it rekindles debate on three long-running and sensitive issues: freedom of religion; the constitutional separation of church and state; and the question of whether faith-based approaches should be treated as equivalent to science-based medicine.

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has retained Gephardt Government Affairs, headed by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, to reinforce its efforts to ensure that any national health care reform legislation passed by Congress includes the services of doctors of chiropractic on par with other physician services in respect to access, reimbursement and scope of practice.

ACA hired Gephardt Government Affairs to enhance its current lobbying efforts and to underscore the necessity of including chiropractic care without limitations and on an equal level to other health care providers. Gephardt, one of Washington’s most respected and well-known political figures, has been a strong proponent of the chiropractic profession. His company is one of Washington’s top public affairs groups.

“The American Chiropractic Association continues to work to achieve professional and patient-focused goals in the health care reform debate,” said ACA President Rick McMichael, DC. “We are maximizing our effectiveness by having Dick Gephardt and his team on the side of doctors of chiropractic. This is a critical time in the ongoing health care reform debate, and ACA is taking this significant step forward to ensure chiropractic is rightfully included.”

“Chiropractic care is a valuable and cost-effective service,” said Dick Gephardt. “I am pleased to be working with the American Chiropractic Association to ensure that doctors of chiropractic and chiropractic services are treated equitably in the reformed health care system.”

ACA, based in Arlington, Va., is the largest chiropractic organization in the United States. The association provides lobbying, public relations, professional and educational opportunities for doctors of chiropractic, funds research, and offers leadership for the advancement of the profession. ACA promotes the highest standards of ethics and patient care, contributing to the health and well-being of millions of chiropractic patients.

Gephardt Government Affairs was founded in 2007 by former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and specializes in helping clients develop political and public policy strategies. Learn more at: www.gephardtDC.com.

Cost effective is the key word. These interventions have a lot of appeal to budget strapped legislatures because they're cheap. Get them into the Gov-Approved-Expert-Panel-Evidence-driven-protocol and that's how Medical care will be delivered with Health Care reform. It'll be your only choice.